Andy,<br><br>Since it is related to work, I'll give you a pass. But seriously, I was going to have to petition the board to revoke your nerd card.<br><br>However, that being said, have you looked into Word Web from M$?<br>
<a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps-help/introduction-to-word-web-app-HA010378341.aspx">http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps-help/introduction-to-word-web-app-HA010378341.aspx</a><br><br>Not sure how this works into your [redacted] web platform, but some others have been looking into this as well.<br>
<br><p><span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong><a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3808867/editing-word-documents-in-a-web-page">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3808867/editing-word-documents-in-a-web-page</a> </strong></span></p>

Howdy folks,<br>
<br>
I need to compose a question but I don't know enough about the subject<br>
matter to even know what to ask (or even of whom to ask it). I'm turning<br>
to you, my most trusted local source of technical knowledge, in the hope<br>
that I can get myself pointed in the right direction or make connections<br>
with the right people. As the subject is not really Perl-related, feel<br>
free to ignore this or respond privately (no need to turn this into an<br>
off-topic discussion). My apologies in advance if I have committed a<br>
significant faux pas in your view.<br>
<br>
I presently work at a small company that makes and services a web<br>
application implemented in the [redacted] language. It's a perfect fit for<br>
me because I know a little [redacted]. It's why I joined this group. I<br>
want to improve our product by making it easier for my customers to use<br>
it. One of the things my customers like to do is manage and revise MS Word<br>
documents within this web application. The documents are held "inside" the<br>
web application. Normally, to edit one of these documents, one would<br>
download the file from the web server (over SSL) where it would then be<br>
saved somewhere on one's computer. One would then locate and open said<br>
document, making the little changes that one desires, and then saving that<br>
back to disk. Then one would go back to the web application, tell it you<br>
want to upload the revised document, click a button, navigate to the<br>
file's location, select it, and tell the web application to upload it. But<br>
many of my customers complain that this is a cumbersome process and prone<br>
to error (and the ones that don't complain just stare and blink at the<br>
Upload/Download buttons). So, I want to give my customers a thing (let's<br>
call it a web browser plug-in) they can install that would show them an<br>
icon of their document right on the web page. They could double-click on<br>
the icon and, as if by magic, the document would open in their application<br>
of choice (i.e., MS Word). When they were done making changes and quit the<br>
application, the document would again, as if by magic, be transported back<br>
to the web server and safely stored in the "cloud". The "magic" of course<br>
is just the plug-in quietly downloading the document in the background,<br>
telling the operating system to open the document in whatever application<br>
is registered for that type, monitoring the file to see when it's been<br>
modified/closed, and then uploading the document back to the web server<br>
(all over SSL).<br>
<br>
Is this even possible? Why, yes! Yes, it is. I heard of a legend of such a<br>
thing that was installed as an IE Active X control that could be invoked<br>
by an <object> on a page and it could interact with the web page through<br>
JavaScript events. It was called a DropTarget (it was a drag-and-drop<br>
control after all). It's all true, I swear. But I can't find it. I also<br>
heard it was written in VB (not even VB.Net) and doesn't play well with<br>
modern versions of IE or Windows (and has to be installed with local<br>
administration privileges).<br>
<br>
(Please note that SMB, CIFS, FTP, SFTP, SCP, NFS, AFS, BFP, ACKTHPPPT, and<br>
WEBDAV have all been ruled out as either not supporting encryption,<br>
involving more software to install, configure, and operate separately, or<br>
requiring yet another authentication silo.)<br>
<br>
So, now I'm trying to hire someone to make one of these things. But I want<br>
it to work with IE 7 through at least IE 10 (desktop mode on Windows 8,<br>
obviously). And I want it to work with Chrome. And Firefox. And maybe even<br>
Safari (but maybe not). When I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I want it<br>
to work with browsers on Mac OS X and even Linux (maybe using the<br>
Firebreath framework). And I want the whole (Windows version) thing<br>
wrapped up in an MSI installer package that can be installed by non-admin<br>
users (in local user data) and that supports customization with MSTs by<br>
enterprises that like to control every last bit of their employee's<br>
computer use (with group policies, ability to install in local user data<br>
or as a system resource).<br>
<br>
(Note that I barely know what much of that Windows technology really means<br>
and I've probably used the terms incorrectly.)<br>
<br>
When I go looking for web browser plug-in developers, so far I am only<br>
finding people (or companies) that write plug-ins that do things strictly<br>
within the web page, like multi-media, graphics, sound, video, or look up<br>
the price for something on the page at your favorite other site. I need<br>
something that can break the security sandbox model (because the customer<br>
wants it that way) bridging the gap between the DOM, JavaScript, and the<br>
operating system shell.<br>
<br>
Where does one look to find this kind of skill in particular? Does it have<br>
a special name? What targetted keywords will get me closer to what I need.<br>
What do I tell the recruiter to look for (they are the ones bringing me<br>
multi-media hackers)?<br>
<br>
Thanks for your time.<br>
<br>
-- Andrew B. Sweger -- The great thing about multitasking is that several<br>
things can go wrong at once.<br>
<br>
<br>
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